Description:The Kona Kai Club resort is still operational on Shelter Island just a stones throw away from the Half Moon Inn and the Bali Hai restaurant. It started out life in 1953 as a similar Polynesian Pop inspired resort hotel and club facility.

I have a few postcards from the Kona Kai Club showing the grounds with the thatched huts, A-frames, palm trees and the different areas of the compound.

Close up of the entrance A-Frame, sign and Tiki torches.

The Kona Kai Club used an image of the Kon Tiki ship as their logo, as seen on the matchbooks.

That always confused me until I found out that Kon Tiki was the name of the bar/lounge which featured the ship's sail as seen on this napkin.

This brochure posted by Matterhorn shows some really great images of the different aspects of the resort.

Fun for the kids and the family.

Here is the Kon Tiki Lounge.

And the food

More info.

They also borrowed the Tiki image from the United Airlines menu.

For the third year anniversary party.

Another Kona Kai Club menu on Arkiva Tropika features one of the famous Hawaiian menu images used by the Matson ship line.

I also have some Kona Kai Club Islander magazines that detail some of the events.

The Tahitian Lounge??

Luau night.

Sadly the Kona Kai Club succumbed to the Taco Bell Tuscany remodel with the red tile roofs in the mid 1990's and no longer contains any resemblance to what it once was.

I actually stayed here on a deal during the opening night of Tiki Oasis a few years ago so I could stumble home from the party at the Bali Hai.

It's too bad this one did not survive in style to maintain the great Shelter Island Tiki tradition.

Great post DC, I’ve featured the Kona Kai in my talk/s about San Diego’s Polynesian Pop past because it was where so much happened in San Diego. Locally it was literally THE place you came to if you where a politician, celebrity, someone rich or in power.
I’ve never seen the illustration of the bar which finally answers why they used the Kon Tiki logo, I’d never heard of it. I know they remodeled several times over the years so how long it was there? The Tahitian Lounge was the large octagonal building near the pool, it had a Witco Mainlander out in front of it and was built in the early 60’s. The Club was just that a club not a hotel (until way later) the hotel part was the Kona Inn right next door. A few years back after the last renovation they renamed the club something as stupid as the new architectural style they slapped on it, then a year or so ago they renamed it back to the Kona Kai?
Amazing work as always.

Thanks guys, it is good to finally know the Kona Kai Club - Kon Tiki logo connection.

Bosko,

I didn't realize what a happening place the Kona Kai Club was. Here is some more info from Crtiki.

Kona Kai Club opened in 1953, and along with the nearby Bali Hai Restaurant, was one of the first developments on the predominantly Polynesian-themed Shelter Island. The Kona Kai Club was a marina, intended from the start to serve high-end yachts, and it developed into the premiere marina in San Diego. The catalog of celebrities mooring pleasure boats there is impressive: Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster, Jack Lemmon, Gregory Peck, Jimmy Durante, Dick Van Dyke, Liberace, and many more.

In 1959, the Kona Inn hotel was opened nextdoor (at 1901 Shelter Island Drive). Later in the year, the entire property was purchased by Jack Wrather, a Hollywood producer who was the original owner of the Disneyland Hotel. Wrather expanded the marina, and in 1963 sold the club to John Alessio, owner of the famous Hotel del Coronado. Alessio started to add Mediterranean touches, including an octagonal structure echoing the one at the Coronado.

The Kona Inn and Kona Kai Club underwent their final renovation from 1995-1997, which completed the conversion from Polynesian to Mediterranean. The name was removed in 1998, and it became Shelter Pointe Hotel & Marina.

I have a matchbook featuring the great googie sign at the adjacent Kona Inn.

The name of the restaurant was the Voyager... not much in the way of Tiki (maybe a nod to a certain Witco ship?).

Wow, how did ol' Eddie make that drink? Let's see, rocks glass, add ice and two shots of Beefeater's Gin, maybe a squeeze of lime. Voila! You couldn't get that cocktail just anywhere. Just the sort of drink you would want in a place called the Tahitian Lounge.
_________________"I am Lono!" -- Hunter S. Thompson

WOW....great post indeed. Brings back many memories for me because as I kid I used to hang out there all the time in the 60's. My parents weren't club members, but I had several girlfriends whose parents were members, so used to go there to swim, hang on the beach and piers and also went to a few functions there. The luaus were great and they used to have synchronized swim shows there often. THANX for sharing all the ephemera.

I want to make a few additions and a couple of small corrections to the Critiki info, although John Alessio bought it in 63 he didn't make any Mediterranean changes he was the guy who really Tiki-fied the Kona Kai, he hired a Hollywood set designer to really make it "authentic" Polynesian, the stupid changes didn't happen until 95 just after we discovered it. The Tahitian Lounge was based on the Hotel Del and I suspect replaced a smaller poolside structure that was a similar shape you see in some of the ads.
Burt Lancaster and Clark Gable filmed "Run Silent Run Deep" at the Kona Kai, Jerry Lewis edited films there (I think he may still have a boat docked down there some place).
I could go on and on,

The cocktail napkin also shows an artist's rendering of the Kon Tiki sail over the bar. I bought one off eBay a few years ago, but the seller never sent it to me and I had to get a charge-back from eBay for the auction. I would have rather had the napkin.

Hey Sven, L.A. set designer Al Goodman, all I could find on the Internets was he worked on the Rosemary Clooney Show. I guess he was hooked up with the Alessios, he also designed much of the (60's remodeled) interior of the Hotel Del, amazing (but so typical So Cal) to think some Hollywood guy made up the interior of the venerated Hotel Del Coronado, so now we all accept it as historical, but the Mid Century Tiki stuff is not to be taken serious, how perfect. 1960 two million dollar remodel "Most of this went into the interior, with special wallpaper, carpets woven to order, a spruced up lobby, new private dining rooms and a plush new bar. A "leading Hollywood scenic designer, Al Goodman, supervised the work...attacking the problem as he would a stage set."
It was all theatrics, great for us and Polynesian Pop.
I would presume he also designed their Luau room?

On 2011-12-12 19:07, TIKIBOSKO wrote:I would presume he also designed their Luau room?

I thought the Luau Room at the Hotel del Coronado dated back to the 1950s, which would obviously pre-date the 1960s hotel remodel. But who knows? Maybe the Luau Room wasn't that junglely until Goodman worked on it.
_________________"I am Lono!" -- Hunter S. Thompson